Witch in the Lab
by Gossamer Silverweb
Summary: Hypatia Mattingley, named after her mother's favorite philosopher, swears to protect her squib mother from her ill tempered wizard father by leaving the Wizarding World behind and moving in with her mother, Vivienne Mattingley.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Bones. I only own my characters: Hypat****ia Mattingley, and Dr. ****Vivienne Mattingley.  
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I nearly had a heart attack this afternoon. Fanfiction. net was blocked! It was a horrible moment, and I thought I was going to pass out. I can't do without Fanfiction, so I decided to post this story after chickening out last time. It's my first story after a really long break! Please be kind though positive criticism is welcome.

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><p>"From these results I can infer the victim died from blunt force trauma," stated Dr. Mattingley. Exhaling she continued, "However I can't identify the murder weapon." She clasped her hands.<p>

A frown was plastered on Agent Booth's face, "Well, that's not going to help. We need to know the murder weapon." Dr. Mattingley sighed.

"I can-" Something caught Dr. Mattingley's eyes. Her eyebrows arched. She gasped. Her fingers brushed against the surface of the newspaper resting at the corner of the desk. She gingerly picked up the newspaper. The article glared at Dr. Mattingley from her hands. It read _Four Found Dead in England_.Her eyes remained on the picture of the quaint house where the bodies were found. Memories of tea parties with her toys, sleepovers with her best friends, and fun afternoons with her mom picking herbs from the garden flooded her.

"The mutilated, disfigured corpses," Dr. Mattingley croaked, ignoring Agent Booth, "of the four victims were found inside an abandoned house in England. Police thinks it's the work of a gang." A heavy sense of dread filled her chest. A jolt of electricity shot through her head, and a moan escaped her throat. She staggered forward. Her hand clutched the chair for support.

Her spine tingled. She felt sick, tainted, and dirty. It was a lie. It couldn't be true, thought Dr. Mattingley. "Seraph?" She twisted her head and forced herself to meet the perturbed eyes of her fellow colleague, "Are you okay?" Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She felt her muscles freeze.

"No-" An agonized scream erupted from her chest. Her blood pressure went down and her heart wildly pounded against her ribcage. Out the corner of her eyes, she saw people rush over to the platform. Her eyelids dropped, and she felt a pair of hands catch her before she fainted. Darkness engulfed her.

Dr. Mattingley collapsed into the strong hands of Agent Booth while Dr. Saroyan sprinted towards Agent Booth. Dr. Saroyan checked her pulse. "Carry her to my office," instructed Dr. Saroyan in a whisper. Then she turned to the crowd of workers forming around them. With an unapproved look on her sun kissed face, Dr. Saroyan addressed the crowd, "You can get back to work." Wendell Bray and Dr. Sweets remained while the rest of the scientists wandered away.

"Is Dr. Mattingley going to be okay," asked Wendell Bray as he helped carry the unconscious Dr. Mattingley into Dr. Saroyan's office. He was genuinely worried because Dr. Mattingley was a second mother to the interns; she looked out and stuck out for them. She was a middle aged British American woman who was divorced, and she had a daughter living in Britain. Usually she was gleeful and amiable, however, lately she wasn't herself. Wendell and rest of the interns noted she had drastically lost weight over the last few weeks, and her normally peaches and cream cheeks were colorless. The sparkle in her eyes were gone and replaced with a sullen look. She dragged her feet around the lab and persisted to stay in her office during lunch. She also made many long calls to England which often ended with her yelling at her daughter. The calls got longer and louder every day. He shuddered as a memory of one such phone call entered his mind. The whole lab had heard Dr. Mattingley holler in anger and demand her daughter to return to America at this instant (Dr. Mattingley's daughter had said no and that she had to stay in Britain due to her job). It had rather ended horrible with Dr. Mattingley throwing the phone across the platform. If it was an intern who threw their phone across the platform, they would have been fired, but Dr. Mattingley was another story. Everyone loved her and that was why everyone was so worried. What had turned the peaceful and patient women into an impatient and quick tempered monster was a mystery waiting to be solved.

"Place her on the sofa." The reply got Wendell's attention, and he watched as Agent Booth lowered the unpredictable woman onto the sofa. Few minutes later, Dr. Mattingley's eyes fluttered open and everyone sighed in relief. She shook her shoulder and got up.

"We need to talk," muttered Dr. Mattingley as she closed the door.


End file.
